A comprehensive website about emunah and core Torah concepts, with analysis and explanation of the writer’s personal growth experiences in Avodas Hashem and understanding of our relationship with HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

Hashem wants a relationship with us – perhaps this is why military, political, financial and other manmade endeavors have not yet reached the desired goals

Hashem wants a relationship with us. All of our accomplishments are due to having been glorified by Him, for there is no glory in the world other than His. Hashem creates the world to have the ability to give the highest good to a being that can experience that good, which is us.

Hashem is concealed in nature but He is very present. His presence has been unmasked in many stories over recent weeks B’’H. Yet what about our relationship with Him? He does not force Himself upon us! He gives us free will to have awe of Hashem or not.

Awe of Hashem – that is the sefira of gevurah, of Yitzchok Aveinu. Yitzchok had the inner strength to rise above his own nature in order to serve Hashem as the story of the akeida tells us. We have the ability to lovingly look inside and search out the truth of our motivations in order to bring both our inclinations into the service of Hashem. When we fear anything but Hashem, it is a fallen yira. It is an amazing fire – anxiety, gaiva, arrogance, hatred, violence and more all have their roots in fallen awe of Hashem. Instead of constantly understanding that He and only He is the Source, we get caught in glorifying ourselves. How?

All of us have an image of how we believe we should be treated, spoken to, given to and more. We project this image and when our image of ourselves is frustrated by the behavior or actions of others, our feelings get hurt. This is normal reaction based on our ego.

Our image of ourself, that projection that we have, is NOT our true essence. It is an image that WE create.

Our true essence is that of tzelem elokim. We are made in Hashem’s Image. The 13 middos harachamim explain who Hashem is and how He designs us to emulate and bring those attributes into time and space.

When we feel a discord between our image and our experiences, that is a moment where we have the opportunity to see that Hashem desires us to reconnect to His 13 Attributes of Mercy. It is as if Hashem is orchestrating the circumstances to show us that we fell down and He wants to pick us up.

Human nature is that we want to set the matter straight, take an action, solve it. And the more skilled we are, the more we feel like we are coping with life and able to take good care of ourselves. Yet there is a very important component that Hashem is bringing to our attention right now. And that is our relationship with Him.

On the basis of having awe of Hashem, what in our actions reflected that we conducted ourselves with a desire to have Hashem pick us up?

When we take a moment and redirect our passion from the anger, the anxiety, the fear, the harshness, the judgments that we naturally experience and say to Hashem, I wish to direct this passion to learning the Torah needed here and to prayer to You to please help me use this passion to create warmth, light and blessing, Hashem immediately lifts us to a calmer place where we can then begin again to look at the matter, only this time from a new perspective, which is how can I bring Hashem’s Attributes to shine in this matter?

And that is how we have a relationship with Him.

If we believe in our own hand, in our own judgments, in our own fire power, we are using what Hashem gives us to glorify us, but are we relating to Hashem, having the relationship with Hashem for which He creates us? And why is that important anyway, as long as we surive and do mitzvahs and learn Torah?

Hashem loves us and wants to give us pleasure. The greatest pleasure is associating with Him. When Moshiach comes, the effort we made while we have free will is the “proof” that we valued this relationship and will determine the degree that our vessel will be able to receive the good Hashem designs us to receive. Whatever other pleasures we seek NOW when we have free will, after Moshiach comes, these pleasures will not be experienced the same way. It is now, while we have free will, that we can develop a relationship with Hashem for which He designs us so that when Moshiach comes associating with Moshiach will be the delight Hashem desires for us.

So Hashem is doing His Part. He is protecting us. He is sending us challenges beyond our ability to solve militarily, diplomatically, socially, financially and more. Let us realize that we have a relationship with Him, to serve Him with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might and to realize that our passion, although we have done a great job at surviving and keeping Torah, now has to be turned upward to Torah and in tefilla asking Hashem to please pick us back up to our true identity, that of tzelem elokim made in His Image, so that we can reflect Him into this world.